We were supposed to get hit by another blizzard over the weekend but it was a bust. Good thing, since it seems like it will take all summer for the snow to melt here.

Here’s a tasty treat to make for these cold days.

Ingredients:

6 ounces cream cheese

1 cup butter, softened

2 cups all-purpose flour

1/4 cup butter, softened

1 1/2 cups packed brown sugar

2 eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 3/4 cups chopped pecans

Some semi-sweet chocolate morsels

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 325 F

2. Grease 24 normal sized cupcake or muffin cups

3. To Make Crust: In medium mixing bowl, cream together cream cheese and 1 cup butter until light and fluffy. Blend in flour, 1/2 cup at a time, forming a smooth dough.

4. Roll into 24 equal balls and press one into each greased cup so it lines the bottoms and sides, like a pie crust. If you have a cup that will fit into the muffin cups, you can put some pam or flour on it, and push the cup into the dough ball, so you don’t have to form all the crusts by hand.

4. Now, take the chocolate morsels, and put 6 to 10 in each cup, depending on how much chocolate you want in them.

5. To Make Filling: In a medium mixing bowl, cream together 1/4 cup butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs until thoroughly blended. Stir in vanilla. Stir in pecans. Fill each lined cup half full.

6. Bake in oven for 25 minutes, or until lightly browned. Let cool in cups, then use a butter knife to flip each tart out.

7. Set them on cooling racks until completely cooled. Store in airtight container.

I can’t believe it’s already November. The hummingbird has been doing great in school and her love of reading has grown even more which makes me so happy since I’m a book addict. She’s still in the very early stages of learning how to read but I love when she’s lying in bed looking at a book and trying to sound out the words.

I think I’ll post some of the books that her teacher has been reading in her Kindergarten class sometime soon. The hummingbird has been adoring several of them.

I’ve made this recipe three times in the last month and it’s definitely a welcome dinner for all of us. It also has balsamic vinegar, which I absolutely love, and is a really comforting meal. You can use any kind of sausage that you like with this.

Same for the potatoes. I’ve tried it with two large russet potatoes, cut into chunks. The only thing I didn’t care for was that they didn’t really hold their form and made the skillet mushy. Of course, it still tasted great.

I’ve put a “kidafied” version below in case you have picky eaters like mine. You don’t have to go out of your way to make something completely different, which is such a pain in the ass.

Enjoy!

Ingredients:

24 ounce bag of small Yukon Gold potatoes (or two large potatoes)

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 teaspoon smoked paprika

small red onion, thinly sliced

4-6 large andouille sausage links (or any you prefer… would also work great with Polska kielbasa)

1 pound trimmed asparagus, each stalk cut into thirds

1/3 cup water

Vinaigrette

2 teaspoons smoked paprika

1-2 garlic cloves, minced

3 tablespoons balsamic vinegar

2 tablespoons olive oil

juice of 1 lemon

dash of salt

Directions:

Bring a medium pot of salted water to a boil. Add potatoes and cook for 15 minutes or until tender. Drain and set aside.

While potatoes are cooking, add 1 tablespoon of olive oil in a large pan on medium heat. Cook sliced onions for 2 minutes along with smoked paprika. Slice sausage into 1 inch pieces and cook in pan for 3 minutes. Add asparagus and cook for an additional 2 minutes.

Add potatoes and stir well. Add 1/3 cup of water to pan and simmer with lid on for 5-8 minutes, or until asparagus is to desired tenderness.

While that’s cooking, make the vinaigrette. In a small bowl, add ingredients and whisk together. Remove the pan from heat, add vinaigrette, and stir together. Serve immediately.

“Kidafied” version:

Once potatoes are cooked, set aside some potatoes in a small bowl. Remove skin and add a bit of milk and butter to make mashed potatoes. Add a dash of salt if desired and sprinkle with shredded cheese.

Before adding vinaigrette to the skillet, remove a few pieces of the sausage and asparagus and set on plate for your picky eater, along with the cheesy mashed potatoes. Add sliced fruit.

Sit down together for dinner and wait for one of two things to happen.

1. Either your picky eater will have complained for the past hour about how hungry they are and will at least eat the mashed potatoes and fruit.

2. They will have complained for an hour about how they’re starving but not want to eat a thing on their plate because ewww, the sausage has touched the mashed potatoes or the asparagus is “gross”.

*I’m still sick and I have to say, I am the biggest pussy ever when it comes to having a cold. It definitely makes you see just how good you have it when you’re healthy.

Last week, when I was in my “pre-sick” stage, I wanted to make a nice dinner for my husband and the little hummingbird. It’s also the day that I made the incredibly orgasmic mini salted caramel apple pies.

Even though we’re a family of 3, it’s such a pain in the ass to get everyone on the same page when it comes to agreeing on what to make for a meal. Okay, actually I need to take that back. My husband will eat anything. Even some of the most horrible, OMG, what the fuck went wrong meals I’ve made over the years.

It’s my 5 year-old daughter who is picky, picky, picky.

Here’s where I have to say I for the most part ate pretty much everything my mom made. She was a single mom for many years and we had several meals of those cheap pot pies. She did the best that she could to feed us so I absolutely appreciate her efforts.

Come to think of it, I was probably more of a whiny little kid when it came to the food we had but I did my best to eat what she was able to afford.

Anyway, as a parent, there is probably at least one time, if not more, where you make a nice dinner for your family and go out of your way to cover all of the different tastes for them. It’s a pain in the ass but damn it, you want everyone to sit down, have a nice dinner, and not bitch and complain.

This particular night did not go as planned. Of course it didn’t. Fuckity fuck!

It may not seem like a fabulous dinner but I made buffalo macaroni and cheese. The perfect comfort food. So delicious and kid friendly. I even made a special casserole dish of it for the hummingbird.

I was running an hour behind though and everyone was bitchy by the time I was able to serve it up.

I was also bitchy and a total asshole to my husband because while preparing this meal, I realized that while I went to the store earlier, I forgot to get half and half. Fuck!

Then I flipped the hell out and sent my poor husband to the quick mart down the road. He was trying to be helpful and offer alternatives but I was all like NO! I FUCKING NEED THIS FUCKING HALF AND HALF, FUCKING FUCK!

Not one of my proudest moments… obviously.

I finally get this dinner in order and on the table. But did my family appreciate it? Hell no!

My hubby chowed down without breathing because he was so damn hungry and my daughter whined and said she didn’t like it. She wanted me to make Kraft mac n’ cheese instead.

And I had to get up multiple times for my daughter. “Can you please get me a napkin, mom? I wanted juice instead. I dropped my fork, can you get another one? My food is cold now, can you microwave it? Now my food is too hot and I can’t eat it. I don’t like this. Can I have something else?”

OMG! Really, people? REALLY?!

So, I sat there and cried. I totally lost it and cried while thinking fuck this shit.

I sat on the couch and cursed my family under my breath while my husband and daughter happily played together after dinner.

But then, I kinda sorta pulled it together and we had those delicious apple pies for dessert.

We went to an apple orchard recently and have enough apples to survive off of for a year. Okay, maybe not that long but it feels like it. A few days ago, I made these mini pies and they are really good. I think I may try to make one whole pie next time. Although, the mini pies are nice for a little treat… if you can just eat one. They’re also great to put in your child’s lunch for a treat.

I hope you enjoy!

Ingredients:

Refrigerated pie dough

1 1/2 cups apples, sliced and peeled (cut them into the size of corn kernels)

2 teaspoons of lemon juice

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1/4 cup sugar

6 store-bought caramels (cut into fourths)

Sea salt

Egg wash (1 egg, whisked with 1 tablespoon water)

sugar for outside of pies

Directions:

Preheat oven to 425 F.

In a small bowl, add the apples, lemon juice, cinnamon, sugar, and flour. Mix to incorporate. Sprinkle a little flour onto a cutting board. Unwrap 2 refrigerated pie dough crusts onto the cutting board. Take a glass or cookie cutter (the glass I used is 3 inches in diameter) and cut out the pie crusts. I was able to get 16 all together.

Line baking sheet with parchment paper and lay the pie crust on sheet. Divide the apple mixture and caramel evenly onto the pie crusts. Add a pinch of sea salt to the top of each. Place the tops of the pie crusts over the mixture. I slightly rolled out the tops to fit them easier. Using a fork, crimp around the edges of the mini pies.

With a knife, cut two holes on top of the pies. Brush each apple pie with the egg wash. Sprinkle them with sugar and put into the oven for 15 minutes or until golden brown.

Take out of the oven and let the pies rest for 10 minutes. Store in an airtight container or you can choose to devour several. I kept them in the refrigerator and warmed them up in the microwave for 10-15 seconds.